Don't make the mistake of thinking at the outset of "I and You," the engrossing play onstage at Mad Cow Theatre, that you know where it's headed. The premise seems familiar: A prickly and seriously ill teenage girl encounters an exuberant classmate. Will he show her the joy in living? Will everyone learn a valuable lesson about appreciating life's little moments?

Well, yes, there's some of that. But there's so much more in Lauren Gunderson's clever play that muses on the big issues of life and death through something as ordinary as two mismatched kids working on a high-school homework assignment.

Quoting Walt Whitman and wielding a bag of waffle fries, Anthony (Mike Mitchell Jr.) bounds into the life of Caroline (Karleigh Chase), who's confined to her bedroom because of illness. She's wary and angry; he's awkward yet hopeful.

Director Aradhana Tiwari keeps her actors in motion with the vitality of youth. Romping around Rebecca Pancoast's outstandingly detail-laden set, they perch on the floor, hurl themselves under the covers, climb up on a chair. Tiwari also is careful to make sure, as the characters verbally thrust and parry, they don't merely shout at one another.

In this play about human connection, Mitchell and Chase create a palpable bond between their characters. When they finally touch, there's an electric spark between them. Both new to the Orlando theater scene, the actors have charisma to spare and give polished performances that never resort to cliché.

Just a couple of times does playwright Gunderson falter and patronize her young characters, mainly over their interest in electronic gadgets and social media. "I have a life. I text… a lot," Caroline says. And there's a moment or two where the dialogue doesn't exactly sound like teenager-speak: Anthony casually tosses out the word "sonorous," but maybe he has been studying for the SATs.

In any case, these most minor of blips don't detract from this highly enjoyable play that craftily draws you in.

Gunderson is becoming something of favored playwright in Central Florida, and deservedly so. Her musical, "The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful and Her Dog!," has been staged at Orlando Repertory Theatre, and her comedy "Exit, Pursued by Bear" was produced by the Bay Street Players in Eustis.

In an ideal world we would see actors Chase and Mitchell on local stages as frequently. For now, don't miss watching these talents combine to create the stimulating piece of theater that is Mad Cow's "I and You."